Lens flare goes viral thanks to ABC

By De Void

ABC’s viral lens flare

Monday, October 1, 2012 at 1:37 by Billy Cox

Last Friday, ABC’s Good Morning America decided to do a Great Taboo story on the cheap. It aired a piece by east Texas affiliate KLTV about an alleged UFO captured by Google Earth cameras in tiny Jacksonville, Tex. It was a whimsical little jellybean that cost nothing to produce. The accompanying ABC blog post indicated another similar UFO had been located on Google Earth in New Mexico.

ABC's Good Morning America made a whoop-de-doo about this lens flare, which led to a worldwide blogosphere phenomenon/CREDIT: Google Earth and Devoid

The dual-UFO story went viral, from The Daily Mail in London to The Pakistan Daily Times. Although critics tendered lens flare as a possible explanation, one “UFO expert” declared “Without question, this is a legitimate craft. It is not a reflection or anything like that. That’s nonsense. I’m actually quite surprised that this is not getting more media attention.”

Actually, it’s hard to imagine how the thing got this far. Within minutes of being shown the Google images, our Herald-Tribune photo chief Mike Lang noodled around the Google Street View imagery and found yet another lens flare “UFO” in Texas — only, it was on the ground, not in the air.

Continue reading here.

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LITS Editor's Note:  Russell Tetrault is the "UFO expert", who is reported to have said:
“Without question, this is a legitimate craft. It is not a reflection or anything like that. That’s nonsense. I’m actually quite surprised that this is not getting more media attention. You know, with big brother around every corner, there is a silver lining and here it is. There have been multiple UFOs spotted using this very program and now here’s another and perhaps, the most compelling. This craft is something that I have never seen before…so what does that mean? Does this mean that we have a different sort of visitor or a new man –made craft? Whatever it is, it is 100% there.”

Source: Ringsidereport.com  Huh?!

Oh, please.  It's claptrap like this that hurts real UFO research.  I said it before in another post and I will say it again.  It is a lens flare.  You can find examples all over Google Maps Street Views. 

Lens flare is caused by "non-image light" which does not pass (refract) directly along its intended path.  Instead, this light reflects internally on lens elements multiple times, before finally reaching the film, or digital sensor.

Flare-inducing light sources include the sun, artificial lighting and even a full moon, or other brightly lit surfaces.

Lens flares can take on different shapes, depending on the camera lens and aperture settings.  The best way to avoid lens flares, are to use filters, lens hoods, or simply don't take photos with the camera pointed towards a bright light source. 

SW/LITS
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